Analyzing Interactions between Japanese Ports and the Maritime Silk Road Based on Complex Networks

This article considers how the Japanese ports interact with the ports of China and along the 21st century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) while they are embedded in the global port network, especially in the context of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. At a port level, it primarily uses connectivity analysis to analyze the port relations and significances in the maritime network. In contrast, at the network level, it applies the methods from network sciences to analyze the significances of these maritime networks and the interactions among the maritime networks of Japan, China, and MSR. This article extracts a large-scale maritime network from ports and vessels’ profiles and data of vessels’ Automatic Identification System (AIS). It then examines the relations among the networks (including Japan, China, MSR, and global ports) after defining the maritime networks, network generation schemes, and port network analysis tools. Based on the analysis results and findings, this study draws some implications for regional ports and shipping development and the global supply network.